


Leaving SHIELD (but not really)

by nerdguy3000



Series: Leo and Alba [7]
Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV)
Genre: Episode: s02e16 Afterlife, Gen, Leo Fitz & Jemma Simmons Friendship, Leo Fitz-centric, Seizures, Service Dogs
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-04
Updated: 2020-08-04
Packaged: 2021-03-05 22:54:58
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,977
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25703155
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nerdguy3000/pseuds/nerdguy3000
Summary: Fitzsimmons know they have to get Fury's toolbox away for this new SHIELD and back to Coulson and they have the perfect ally.
Series: Leo and Alba [7]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1834102
Comments: 2
Kudos: 15





	Leaving SHIELD (but not really)

**Author's Note:**

> I know nothing about service dogs or seizures so sorry if this is inaccurate.
> 
> Also I know I said last time it would be them on the run, I forgot about this episode.

Jemma and Fitz spent a lot of time sitting on the floor of the lab, letting Fitz recover from one of the most violent seizures he had had in a while, his head resting on her shoulder. He kept a hold of her hand and for the first time in months, he felt entirely at ease in her company. Alba still hadn't been returned and Jemma was not willing to leave his side until she was back to look after him. He had gently drifted off when Jemma nudged him awake. He opened his eyes to see an unfamiliar scientist walking past them with a little black box.

"That must be Fury's toolbox," Jemma whispered, she kept her head in the same position and spoke in a low voice so only Fitz could hear her.

"We need to um- retu- re- um get it back to Coulson," Fitz said, they had heard about how Agent May had helped Coulson escape and they were glad. Concerned at what would have happened to him had he stayed. Though May was now locked up which wasn't good news. This was a mess. 

"Do you think you can open it?" Fitz nodded gently against her shoulder, "if they allow you to leave then I'll get it to you. You leave and find Coulson, I'll stay here and cover for you."

"No Jemma, that- that's too dangerous," he didn't want to put her at risk again. Leaving her surrounded by strangers who might turn on her and hurt her.

"Yes Fitz, it's the easiest way. And we can have a pretend argument so they don't suspect anything." She seemed to be set on this plan and Fitz knew once she got an idea in her head it was very difficult to changer her mind. She stood up and extended a hand to him. "Let's go have a look."

They kept their distance from it, not sure how close they were allowed to get. This was going to take a lot of planning and it was pretty dangerous. The thought of it started to stress Fitz out and he began to rub his left hand with his right. They observed the cube and Fitz started to doubt that he could get into the cube

"Pure vibrainum shell. No ports, no external power source. How do you get inside to retrieve the data?"

"I suspect advanced biometric access points." That made a lot of sense.

"Probably loaded with self destruct triggers."

"Yeah."

At that moment Robert Gonzalez entered their field of vision and the quickly stopped their brainstorming session.

"Leo Fitz and Jemma Simmons. The ones who got away." Jemma felt Fitz momentarily flinch at the use of his first name. She knew that it had only really been used by his father and that he didn't have fond memories of the man. They both crossed their arms are he continued "I had my eye on you two while you were at the academy. I wanted to recruit you but Coulson bet me to it. I heard he actually bribed Weaver with cupcakes. Robert Gonzalez."

He held out his hand and both of them eyed it with disdain. The firmly kept their arms crossed, not willing to be civil with this man. Especially since they were still keeping Alba separated from Fitz even after seeing that he needed her first hand.

"We know who you are and we are quite aware of your commendable reputation." Fitz was glad Jemma had decided to do the talking, he was stressed over what had happened and what they were planning to do so anything he wanted to say would probably come out muddled, "under different circumstances we might even be flattered. Which is why this is so hard to comprehend."

"Under different circumstances, we would have preferred to be invited guested. But that forced our hand." He gestured to the cube and they knew exactly what he wanted him them. "We had to take it out of play."

"What's inside that's so important." Fitzsimmons had no idea of its contents but knew it was of vital importance to Coulson. However if they could better understand what this 'other' SHIELD wanted, they could plan accordingly.

"All we know is Coulson and Fury thought it was valuable enough or dangerous enough to protect with extreme measures." Fitz knew how disappointed Jemma was at the realisation that Bobbi was working against them, the two haven grown close after both being undercover at Hydra, he imagined it was the same way he felt when it was revealed Mack was working against them.

"Maybe it was their favourite recipes," Fitz bit out. He hated the way that his team had been divided and the man responsible was standing in front of him so he wasn't about to keep his feeling to himself.

"Maybe it is." The tone of voice sent a tremor through Fitz. "Then maybe we can put all this behind us and move on. That's why I'm asking for your help, Leo."

The use of his first name again upset him so Jemma decided to draw the attention towards her, "and if he refuses? Will you lock him up like you did Agent May?"

"There are no prisoners here. We are all SHIELD agents." Jemma looked away in disgust, "exit protocols have not changed."

"Once you're cleared and debriefed, you are free to go, if that's what you really want." Jemma knew what was coming but that didn't make it hurt any less. They were going to be separated again. She was starting to feel how Fitz had when he had left to go undercover, even though she knew where and why he was going.

"Ok," Fitz said, uncrossing his arms, "I'll start packing my things, oh and I'll need Alba back."

Jemma gave a slight smirk at his retreating back, she was proud of him. He was much stronger than people gave him credit for, "you should have brought cupcakes. And you better get his service dog back to him"

Then she stormed off, she had more planning to do and a box to replicate. This was going to be difficult to pull off but she had every faith in her and Fitz, together they were unstoppable.

* * *

Fitz headed back to his bunk and looked around nervously. He had been officially debriefed and needed to pack his things. He had decided to leave most of his belongings at the playground as he was going on the run but had every intention of coming back. He headed over to his desk, intent on packing his tech first when he spotted a note lying underneath one of the books sitting there. He picked it up and spotted Jemma's familiar, beautiful handwriting. She must have written and left it while he was being debriefed.

_Here's the plan, I'm going to give them half-answers about the cube. Enough for them to trust me but not enough for them to open it. I'm making a fake cube to swap in for this one and it should be done soon. You need to act hurt by my actions so you have a reason to leave and so they won't think we're working together._

Fitz had to laugh at how thorough Jemma was being, everything had been planned out to perfection.

_I have 3 plans for getting the cube to you._

_1\. Slipping it in your bag when you put it on._   
_2\. Putting it in Alba's vest._   
_3\. Or hiding it in your bag of meds._

_Oh, also I arranging a month's supply of all your medication just in case. Hopefully, you should be back before that._

_Stay safe Fitz!_

_\- Jemma_

Despite the horrible circumstances, this was the Jemma he remembered, the one he had fallen for. She had so many plans and was prepared for every eventuality. Fitz smiled as he folded the letter and stuck it in his back pocket if they decided to check his bags he had to make sure they wouldn't find anything. 

After packing a week's worth of clothes, figuring that would either be enough or he would find some way to wash them Fitz turned to the problem of Alba. He had never been in public with her before, he mostly stuck to the bus and when he was in the field Alba wasn't because it wasn't safe. Though he had been developed a bulletproof vest for her in case the worst happened. However, right now he needed to decide what to take. She should currently have her vest and over the shoulder leash so Fitz only had to pack a normal leash and a basic collar. He picked up a foldable water bowl and rope toy and put them in the bag. Also in the box with Alba's things were a few bags of treats that Fitz packed as well. She was about to do something new as well so she would need a lot of positive reinforcement and the bacon ones were her favourites. 

Taking his bag, Fitz headed to the bus. He still had a few things there that he needed to pack and wasn't willing to leave behind. As he packed up the picture of his and Jemma from their first mission to Peru, Mack approach, Alba following behind him.

"I hate to see you leave, Turbo," Mack said, letting Alba walk over to see Fitz who bent down and began to check Alba himself. She looked okay but he had to make sure for himself, and running his hands through her fur was comforting and he needed that right now.

"Only my friend Mack calls me that," he said, still focused on Alba. It was the longest they had been apart since May had first introduced them and it hadn't been pleasant.

"I'll always be your friend Fitz. Hopefully, someday you'll understand why I did what I did." Fitz stood up, pulled the leash over his shoulder and looked at Mack. Fitz didn't think he'd ever understand how you could get close to people, knowing one day you would betray them.

"If you're here to convince me to open the box your wasting-" for the first time since they met, Mack cut him off.

"No, I'm here because I don't want you to leave man. I believe in what we're doing and I want you on board." At least Hyrda had never tried to give him the recruitment speech. "I mean the damn box is taken care of."

So Jemma had already started to work on the plan, she had always been efficient, now it has time for Fitz to play his part. "What do you mean it's taken care of?"

"Simmons, she found a way in using genetic markers or something." That sounded a bit close to giving them the answers than Fitz had hoped but he trusted her, "she can see we're on the same team why can't you?"

Fitz moved into the briefing room, feeling at ease as Alba moved beside him, and pulled up what Jemma was working on. Pretending to be oblivious in front of Mack. Looking at the schematics Jemma was working on actually helped Fitz solve the final piece of the puzzle so he could get in but it relied upon tech and skills they had developed together so the information was mostly useless to anyone else. He almost gave the answer away when talking it through but managed to bite his tongue just in time. This was perfect and Fitz was almost ready to leave. He just needed the box and to cause a scene with Jemma. Now he had the perfect reason.

* * *

After working out what Jemma was doing he stormed off the bus, Mack following behind him and by the time they were at the lab, a few agents were following behind him.

"I saw everything Jemma." His subtle way of telling her, he knew what she had been trying to tell him, "did you really want me to find out this way?"

"Well, I was hoping you would so we could work together on this. Do you have any idea how valuable the information inside this could be?" He saw the look in her eyes and knew they were on the same page. It felt good to work together but he couldn't let that show right now. "You need to help me get it out. Get things back to normal."

"Things can never go back to normal, can you see that? Can't any of you see what you've done? You've destroyed a man's life and for what?" At that moment he picked up the cube, he figured it would be easier to swap if he moved it from where it had been placed by the 'other' SHIELD's scientists had placed it. It was away from all the sensors so any errors when the fake was scanned could be put down to him. However, he now had a gun pointed at him, it was made form vibrainum, what did they expect him to do? He could throw it with all his strength onto the floor and it would come away unscathed. While he didn't really mind having a gun pointed at him, he did object to it being pointed anywhere near Alba. He wouldn't stand for her being hurt in any way by these people calling themselves 'SHIELD' agents.

"Fitz put it down right now," Mack said, trying to have off the other agent. 

"Because of fear." The agent had proved his point by pulling out the gun, "because of fear of what's inside a little black box. Well, I don't believe in fear "

He placed it back into the table, putting it in a position for Jemma to be able to switch it.

"I believe in trust and I'm shocked that you would do this. You knew this would drive me away. You may as well have packed my bags yourself." Fitz hated saying these things to Jemma but they had to make it look real, especially while Bobbi and Mack were watching. "You want me to leave, don't you, Jemma?"

"If we work for SHIELD, we have a duty to carry out our responsibilities. So perhaps it's best if you do." Even though this had been the plan from the start it hurt almost as much as when she had left. They were reunited in friendship but about to be separated due to circumstances. Fitz nodded at her words and left, a hand going down to stroke Alba's fur gentle to calm himself. This was all going to plan, he just had to wait for her to sneak him the cube and they would be good to go.

An hour after their argument, Jemma found Fitz in the garage of the Bus, sitting on the floor with Alba on his lap. She wasn't surprised to see him taking comfort like this, this was probably one of the hardest things he had ever had to do but he wasn't alone. Mack was sitting on the other side of the garage the two were clearly not talking and she couldn't say she blamed Fitz. She had come here under the pretence of giving him his medication but she also had the toolbox which she had worked out would fit perfectly in Alba's stopwatch pocket, given they were roughly the same size. 

"Here is all your medication, when those run out you will have to find a way to pay for your own prescription," he took the bag from her and stood up, moving to back it into his rucksack. As he moved away, she turned her back to Mack and said her goodbyes to Alba while putting the toolbox in one of her best pouches. 

"Goodbye," Jemma whispered, "look after him."

As he finished gathering his things he looked over at Mack who was pretending to be focused on something else, "I'm ready to go."

Mack nodded and walked over picking up Fitz bag before he could protest. They walked to the bottom of the ramp where they were stopped by Bobbi and a security officer who ran a metal detector wand over him and then over Alba and he scoffed as that happened. Of course, they felt the need to scan the dog, though their fears were warranted Fitz had to admit considering that's where the cube was. Fitz had opted for a normal lead which he was glad about as he began to gather his bags, the over shoulder leash would have become tangled with all of the various straps. With one final breath, Fitz and Alba headed out into the world, one final challenge for the pair.

* * *

Once they were far enough away from the base, Fitz flagged down a taxi, he had to get away, though he wasn't sure where yet but the airport would be a good start. He needed to find somewhere to dump most of his gear.

"Airport please," he said opening the door and throwing his bags in, then he gently ushered Alba in, before finally climbing in himself.

"Excuse me, man, you can't have your dog in here." 

"She's a service dog." Not long after he got Alba, Fitz spent researching ADA laws and what he could and couldn't do with a service dog. He knew he was well within his rights to have her in here.

"Oh sorry, man. That's okay then."

Fitz just nodded in response and patted Alba's head. 

He decided to check the bag Jemma gave him with his medications as he suspected there had been more to it than that. Opening up the bag, not only did he see the meds, but there was also all the tools he would need to open the cube and above all a prosciutto and mozzarella sandwich.

"With a hint of pesto aioli."

**Author's Note:**

> All feedback appreciated!!
> 
> Next time: Fitz and Alba on the run!


End file.
